More Roof Progress

This last Saturday we got all of the metal installed on the roof! It is so exciting to be getting closer on the roof. I am horrible, er, not so great at heights, so the faster we get to were I don't have to climb out there again, the happier I'll be. :) Weston and Weldon Gardener and their wives came over and helped us out, so us girls handed up metal while the guys installed it. We still have work left to do - the trim and ridge cap need installed and we have to measure, order and install the cap for the chimney. Josh has New Year's day (Wednesday) off, as well as the weekend. We hope to finish the metal and electrical in those three days, and our plumber is coming to finish plumbing this weekend. Also, the siding guys are finishing up siding the upper dormers today, it will be really finish off the house to not have raw plywood and Tyvek up there. Hopefully my next post will be about those being FINISHED! :) 
(also here's some pics of the electric and plumbing :) 

Installing the dormer windows... the middle opening was a foot to wide! Needless to say, we had to do a little framing :)

The panel all ready to hook up

Bathtub...

Look at all those pretty blue boxes and yellow wire :)

I love seeing the siding and windows on the top dormers!

Until the next update, 

Josh and Rebecca

Five Day "Vacation" to work on the house

Whew! Josh took Monday, the 23rd, off of work, so he had Sat., Sun., Mon., Tue., and Wed., of "vacation" to work on our house. We got a lot done, but I'm glad to have a day or two off before we hit it again this weekend. The weather was not very conducive to our original plans...we were hoping to finish the roof, but Friday night and ice storm hit and kinda changed plans for us...trying to work on a roof covered in an inch of ice is slightly impractical. So...we worked on electrical and plumbing, and finished up the office, (it is our only upstairs room, and it needed sectioned off from the rest of the attic). 

It was a little discouraging when we arrived Saturday morning, the ice and wind had torn up our tar paper and our living room was a huge puddle, with water and ice still dripping in. We ended up drilling a hole in our floor to sweep all the water out, to hopefully keep from damaging the plywood subfloor too much more. Also, a piece of metal had been torn up from the middle of a row, because it hadn't been screwed down right. :( thankfully, the metal wasn't damaged and we were able to bend it back on Tuesday, after all the ice had melted.

Electrical is sooo close!!! The whole house is done except the office, which will be pretty simple, since we already have the cans up and wired, and to finish the garage. We ran out of single gang (plugs and single switches) boxes, so I just ran wire to where they should be, and as soon as we get some, we'll be able to finish. Josh is picking that up today, so I plan to finish electrical Friday while he's at work.

Steven Hunt came over and started plumbing. I don't know anything about plumbing, but Steven said it's almost done, he plans on coming back in a week and a half and finishing it up! I meant to get a few pictures of the pipes and tubs installed, but forgot when I was there today, so you'll just have to believe me :) 

I'm starting to feel like we're getting somewhere on this project, once electrical, plumbing and the roof are finished, we will call the HVAC guys, they'll install, and we have to build the hearth for the woodstove and we can ORDER INSULATION AND SHEETROCK!!! I'm just a tiny bit excited about that. :) We're shooting for the end of the January for getting insulation and sheetrock, hopefully it works out that way...because then we can start picking paint colors, installing cool light fixtures, cabinets.....and all that fun stuff! Here's some pictures of the beginning of electric, I didn't take many because I was busy working on it. :) We are much farther along now, I'll try to post some more pictures later.

Until the next update,

Josh and Rebecca

Metal Roof!!

Saturday the 14th, we started on our metal roof. We made some really good progress! A couple friends, Chad and Marcus, came over Saturday and helped out, then on Sunday Josh's dad and a couple other guys came over and we made more progress. Almost the whole backside is done, which is the hard part for us, because I'm useless on an 8/12 pitch roof that's 20 ft. off the ground!! Sunday morning before the guys got to the house, Josh and I did the porch roof. Hopefully in another weekend we can get it all installed, then all we have to do is screw it down. 

Until the next update,

Josh and Rebecca

Deals!!

I know we're a long way off from decorating and doing finish work, but when I was at Goodwill a week or two ago, I saw a few deals that I couldn't pass up. First I found a basic white basin sink for the main bathroom for only $15, which is about half the price they are new in the store, and this one is new, and in great shape. Then I turned around and saw a wood framed mirror for only $20. It needs cleaned up, there's a good chance that I will sand it down and restain it, because it has some nicks, but for a mirror that size I was pretty happy. For our dining room table, there is a guy on craigslist who makes old farmhouse looking tables for a good price, and I'd like to surround it with random chairs that I pick up wherever, and I found a perfect one for only $5! So for $40, I got a chair, a mirror and a sink for the new house. Thank goodness we have a shed to store stuff in! :) 

Until the next update, 

Josh and Rebecca

Siding and Roof and Windows and Doors....yeah it's been a while :)

For those of you who have been waiting with baited breath for this blogpost...here it is! 

We worked.

We hired out some.

We have made some progress.

I am tired.

We will hopefully finish sometime in the distant future.

The End. 

Simple and straightforward and to the point.

Haha, just kidding ;) It has been a while...so much so that I have kind of lost track of what my next blog post was supposed to be. Woops. We hired out the rest of the roof and siding, which was not the most economical option, but if we wanted it dried in before the bad weather hit, this was the only option. It was so so nice to just come over to the house and see the progress! It's looking really great! As of today, we have all but three upper windows installed (we are waiting for a friend to come help us lift them, they're pretty heavy and with just Josh and I, we were looking at a very probable broken window.), the exterior doors installed, most of the siding is done (siding guys will be back when the metal is on the roof to finish that), the roof is decked and tarpapered, which makes the house fairly dry inside. I'm loving seeing the house come together! 

Josh ordered the metal and is picking up electrical supplies today, and we will start on that ASAP, Steven H. is coming over to do plumbing this weekend, the AC guy will come as soon as we get the metal done on the roof. It feels so great to be done with the biggest job ... framing. So here are the pictures to prove we have been doing at least something in the blog post absence. :) 

Until the next update,

Josh and Rebecca

Still a Little Leaky..but We Have A Roof!

This last weekend went super well, my three brothers and Steven Hunt came over and with Josh and I we had quite the "professional" roofing crew. But we worked hard and got a lot done! We have six rafters left to install and other little things like bracing (who needs bracing??) and stuff like that. But we had a really good time, I loved having the time to spend with the guys and feeding them lots of food! Take a look.....

Until the next update,

Josh and Rebecca

And It's A House!

Ok, so it's been a while. But I can explain, I promise. I took some pictures a few weeks ago...and put the camera on the hood of the truck while I went back to work. That was a mistake. You should never put a delicate instrument on the hood of a vehicle that has the potential to move. Which it did move, when I ran home to get some lunch. A very nice gentleman found the camera and recognized my truck from looking through the pictures, and found me before I even realized that my camera was gone. :) That camera is TOUGH. It still works. Some dents, some dings, and a few scratches, but still in good running condition. So here's a shout out for Canon cameras! :) That being said, I lost my camera cord when my camera case (which it was in) went flying off the hood. It was (sadly) never recovered. But now I have a new cord, it's been a few weeks...and we have made a ton of progress! 

The framing party was October 12 (and to those of you who know of our bet...yes, I owe Josh a golf game, because it was framed by the time he said it would be) and we had to work super hard to get everything ready by then. We actually stayed home from October Camp, which was a huge disappointment, but a necessary one. That weekend we finished the floor joists and the subfloor. (Thanks a million, Todd for coming over and helping us with that!) That week, we marked where the walls were to go and ordered lumber. 
Friday: Chad and Todd came over and we got all the top and bottom plates of the house built, marked and laid out. Plus the front and back walls of the house built. And we were ready for frame day! 
Saturday and Sunday: We are so blessed to have all the friends who came over and helped us out! We got a ton done :) All the walls were framed, all sides sheeted with plywood, and three sides Tyveked. Plus all the roof joists where run and we put up the front walls for the three front dormers. 
This last couple weeks, we have finished the walls for the upstairs office, put in sheetrock backing and towel backing (so our towels don't jump off the walls someday :) and cut the door openings. This coming weekend my wonderful brothers are coming down and a couple friends are coming over and we are going to put the roof on! I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, EXCITED. :) I can't wait to see the roofline. SO...............here are all the pictures you've been waiting for. I unfortunately forgot to get a picture of just the subfloor when it was all done, but I got one of when Todd and Josh were working on back walls. Enjoy!!

Todd and Josh working Friday

David helping some of the kids :)

Starting to look like a house!  

 Jonathan and Ethan trying to figure out what to do

 An example of Lydia's photography 

 And another...

 Dad's addition to our house - a mouse hole! It says, "Home Sweet Home" and "Mice Welcome"

 Holden working hard

 The front of the house

 One of our many helpers

 At the end of the weekend!

Stay tuned for more after this weekend...we should have a roof on that structure! To all who helped us: a huge thank you for all the hard work! When it's finished, we look forward to having you all over for dinner and fun times! 

Until the next update, 

Josh and Rebecca

More Progress!!

We are starting to feel like we're getting somewhere now :) Finally, all the concrete pouring is done...the stem walls went really well, Keith, Terrell and Caden Gardener came and helped Uncle Marty, Josh and I pour them. It was so nice to have the three extra people and it went a million times smoother than pouring the footings! So, the stem walls are up and we are now working on putting in the large beams that support the span of the house (almost done with those, we are one board short...it should be delivered today to be installed this evening) and we started the floor joists! I am so excited about floor joists...(lame, I know) but as you all know, I'm a quick project, don't make me be to perfectionist type of girl, and this house is trying my project type! But the floor joists...ahh, they are awesome. And you get to see results FAST :) Yay! We hope to finish them tonight! Our framing party is in one week (the 12-13) so we are working hard to get the subfloor up and the walls marked. I am getting super excited about the framing party, by the end of the weekend we should have a structure that is actually looking like a house instead of just a flat platform. Oh! And on Thursday we had the garage pad and approach done (we hired that part of the concrete work out...hooray) and got our well dug! We don't have running water, because we don't have electricity yet, but if you want a drink all you need are thin buckets and a long, long, long rope....drop it 200 ft. down and you can dip some up! ;)

Here are the latest pics! 

Until the next update,

Joshua and Rebecca

Caden and Uncle Marty

Keith and Terrell

Stems!

I was digging out the pipelines that run beneath the footings

Looks like we're getting somewhere!!!

The well:

This was taken last night, we worked til 9:15 or so with job lights and got the laundry room joists up and about a third of one side of the house.